Santana Row, San Jose

Santana Row is newly developed shopping and dining area in San Jose. It is claimed to be an European styled district with a lot of cafés, restaurants, boutiques and decent pavements to walk on.

In some sense, the place has gained sort of poshy European appeal. On the other hand, the district is mere one street with three blocks of stores, so the European style vanishes fast when you go beyond those blocks. You see a lot of parking lots and small buildings.

The stores and restaurants themselves are really worth of visits. There are several top-notch stores, such as Gucci and Burberry, but you can find also mid-priced shops.

Santana Row shopping area is made up of wonderful places to eat, as well as great clothing and home furnishing stores. And if you need a break...sit in the park and play checkers, or enjoy the live entertainment and evening movies.... ALL OUTDOORS!

Santana Row shopping area is made up of wonderful places to eat, as well as great clothing and home furnishing stores. And if you need a break...sit in the park and play checkers, or enjoy the live entertainment and evening movies....all outdoors!

Santana Row shopping area is made up of wonderful places to eat, as well as great clothing and home furnishing stores. And if you need a break...sit in the park and play checkers, or enjoy the live entertainment and evening movies.... ALL OUTDOORS!

Santana Row's 40 acres include:

680,000 square feet of retail space,
1200 luxury residential rental units,
A world-class boutique hotel (with bar on the roof),
Public parks and plazas,
Outdoor entertainment,
Twice-weekly traditional farmer's market,

What to buy: Luxury goods, European Imports like Diesel, Burberry, Gucci, Escada, etc.

What to pay: More than average

Santana Row is one of San Jose's newest additions. Completed in late 2002 after a horrendous fire burned down much of the original construction plans, Santana Row combines several streets and 40 acres with rows of local and chain-wide shops, including restaurants, movie theatres, and a hotel. Above the shops are apartments for people to rent. All this is part of San Jose's "Europeanization" encouragement to stop the spread of its suburbs and to bring people back into the city center

Whether you hate shopping places or not, Santana Row deserves at least a few minutes to look around or shop. It's an ultra-modern (and daresay, classy) complex that really does mark a changing attitude when it comes to shopping and living in California.

What to buy: Stores, restaurants, theatres, etc...